Minecraft Christmas- Collaboration with SpiritedandLoyal
by Mage-Pages
Summary: 'Twas the Christmastime party, and all through the field, Every Yog was attending, A good time appealed;The ale was put out in some barrels with care, For Yogscast shenanigans, all were prepared!" Collab with SpiritedandLoyal! Drinking, kissing, swearing some blood/bad puns. The final three chapters are here; the first three are with SpiritedandLoyal, so be sure to read them there!


_**Twas the Christmastime party, and all through the field, Every Yog was attending, A good time appealed;The ale was put out in some barrels with care, For Yogscast shenanigans, all were prepared!**_

(Author's Note- Hey guys! I'm really excited to present a huge project I've been working with the marvelous SpiritedandLoyal on for quite some time. The first three chapters are over on her account, and the final three are here. I hope you enjoy this, and I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, or hanukkah or whatever you observe. Enjoy the story, don't be shy with your reviews, and have a wonderful day!)

**Lomadia's POV**

"Alright guys, Time for the group shot!"

Xephos sighed, and propped himself up on his elbows beside me. He was wearing a red woolen scarf that accentuated the rosiness in his cheeks. I was reclined in the warm hollow that had melted around me, but he stood, the powdery snow crunching beneath his boots. He offered me a hand, and I took it, feeling rather giddy as he pulled me from the ground. I had consumed a bit more of the party's signature cider than he had. I was still clear-headed, but most definitely not coordinated. I stumbled directly into his arms, but that might have been intentional.

He chuckled, and I felt the vibration of his rich voice. He pulled me into a strong embrace, and I snuggled my face into his coat. We stayed like that for a moment, until he pulled back and said, "We should probably get back to the group. Don't want to miss the picture."

He frowned. "Where's Honeydew? He was tagging along with us for a while, but he had that mini-keg…"

We heard a drunken shout and a single arm erupted from a nearby pile of snow. Soon the rest of the dwarf followed. It was a bit of a miracle that he hadn't frozen solid, but all the alcohol in his blood would have made that nigh impossible. Honeydew stood before us, roughly a meter-tall barrel of raw intoxication. His eyes were droopy and snow stood out on his ginger beard. He slurred something that sounded like a challenge in reply to

Xephos's inquiry if he would like to join us on our way back to the main group. Then, the dwarf ran off, hollering nonsense and waving an iron shovel about.

"I imagine this is what they're always like in the Dwarven Cities." Xephos noted dryly.

I smirked. "Well, we've got to get him back. Everyone's going to be waiting on us for the picture."

He listened to me, and considered my words. "I suppose it would be sort of rude to leave him out there, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and socked him lightly in the shoulder, but he grabbed my forearm and pulled something out of his pocket. He held up a few green leaves and smiled mischievously. Mistletoe.

We kissed briefly, and then I pushed him away. "I'm pretty sure that's cheating." I pointed out, faking a pout.

He shrugged. "But worth it." was his simple reply. I'll admit that I glowed. He held my gloved hand, our fingers intertwining despite the awkward thickness of the material

"Let's go get ourselves a dwarf, shall we?"

When we found Honeydew, it was in a veritable _mine_field. There were deep holes everywhere. How he had found enough time to dig them all, I have no idea. The fact remained that we had to get a stubborn, unwilling and most definitely not sober or coordinated dwarf across it to rejoin the group. The dwarf in question now completely ignored us, instead making a haphazard snow angel. Honeydew didn't seem to understand the concept of a snow angel, instead occasionally rolling over and messing up the previous impression. Besides that, his short structure made for a rather odd angel.

Xephos tried first to get his attention. "Hey, Honeydew. Follow us, ok? We have to get to the others." When Honeydew didn't respond, Xephos gingerly stepped over a small hole, his long legs making the task easy. Still, the snow was slippery, so it was well that he was careful. He reached out an arm to his friend, "C'mon, friend, we have to go for the group picture."

Honeydew gazed at him for a moment, and then languidly took a long draught of whatever he had in his keg. One thing was for sure, it wasn't the mild cider that I had enjoyed.

"Alrigh' then. Le' go." The dwarf slurred.

Xephos pulled him up from the snow angel. Honeydew rocked unsteadily on his feet for a moment, and then took a few precarious steps with the overdue care of a drunk.

I was about to point out that he might need some help avoiding all of the holes when the predictable happened. His foot slipped on a slick bit of ice among the snow, and he plummeted into a pit. Xephos and I both reacted in the same idiotic way; we tried to catch him.

Naturally, both of us being a bit tipsy ourselves, we fell into separate holes as soon as we tried to move rapidly. It was a fair ways to the bottom of mine, but the snow in the depths of the pit was soft, so I suppose that was something to be grateful for. Still, I was a little fuzzy for a few minutes, in which I just lay on the snow and stared at the sky, now mostly obscured by my cold prison walls. When I recovered, the first thing I tried to do was jump or climb out. All of my efforts only got me a few feet up the walls. When I fell back to the floor for the umpteenth time, I stopped for breath and considered my situation.

The hole was big enough for me to take one short step in any direction, and I could sit or recline comfortably on the ground. There was some dirt mixed in with the snow, but there had been a lot of snowfall this year, so in all likeliness I was still above the actual ground. I wasn't cold, though, because my body heat actually warmed the small area, something like how an igloo would work. All of the sounds that I could hear were murky and distorted, but clear enough for the amount of snow they had to transverse. I was surprised to hear Xephos's voice. He was cursing rapidly, and I could hear dull thuds of some sort.

"Goddamned dwarf…" _Thud_

"…Last time, I swear." _Thud_

"_Every _Notch-cursed Christmas!" _Thud_

I fought down the laughter that threatened to escape my lungs. It wasn't really funny, but he could get so worked up. I spoke up; trying to project my voice in the direction his seemed to be coming from.

"Hey, Xephos. Are you alright?"

Immediately the cursing stopped "Lomadia! Yeah I'm fine. Are you hurt?" He sounded worried, which I thought was kind of cute.

"I'm fine. I just can't figure out how to get out. How's Honeydew?" I replied, craning my neck to see if I could spot anything above my hole.

There was another curse before Xephos answered. "I can hear him humming. He's alive. Not that he'll be that way when I get through with him. And he has his shovel! He's just too drunk to use it."

I giggled at the dark tone of his voice. He swore and bristled now, but he wouldn't do anything to the dwarf. Honeydew had destroyed the entire lab that Xephos was so fond of several times, and nothing ever came of it. I doubted that falling into a hole would warrant a harsher punishment. Another moment of silence passed before Xephos spoke again.

"Listen, babe. I'm going to try and dig through the snow to you, so just keep talking so I don't get lost."

"The snow is packed solid! You'll never get over to me using your hands." I heard a grunt as something struck the snow heavily.

Xephos voice was strained with exertion as he replied, "I have that knife you gave me for my birthday. The one with the silver owl on the handle. I can try to pry out some of the snow with it, or at least make it looser." I heard a few more solid blows, probably struck with his knife.

I smiled widely, and you could hear it in my voice. "Awh! You carry that one? I didn't know you liked owls that much."

The blows stopped, and Xephos answered with a very matter-o-fact tone. "Of course I carry it. It reminds me of you when we have to be apart. Now keep talking." The blows continued.

So I talked, for what must have been at least a half hour. All the while, I heard Xephos panting as he struck the snow with his knife. His voice got steadily louder and clearer, till he could have been standing right next to me. Actually, that was exactly the case.

"Alright, Lom. Stand out of the way, I'm going to push out the last of the snow."

I did as he said, and a few seconds later his arm thrust out of the wall of freezing cold. It reached around blindly for a moment, and then started to scrape the rest of the snow out of the way. I was about to step in and help when Xephos crawled through the new opening and stood. He stretched, and I was able to see the tunnel he had dug. Less than five feet long, but it had obviously taken a lot of effort.

"So, what now?" I asked.

He shrugged, staring at his knife. "I would say that carving out handholds onto the side of this hole would be a good idea, but well…" I looked at the knife as well. The blade was bent and scratched. The snow hadn't taken kindly to it. If we tried to use it any further, it would probably break completely. The only part that still seemed to be in half-way good condition was the delicate owl that was the handle and hilt of the dagger. It had wide, outstretched wings that made up the hilt, while the body was the handle. There were tiny details etched into the silver, and minuscule, flawless emeralds for the eyes. I had made it for Xephos, so I was glad that the part that was hard to make had survived. At least he could replace the blade part, granted we ever got out of this hole.

"I guess we wait. Surely someone will miss us, especially if they're trying to take the group picture. It's only a matter of time until someone finds us." was my reply. Xephos sighed, and slid to the floor. It was really quite a cramped space, but I didn't mind. I sat next to him. He fiddled with the dagger for a moment before speaking again.

"It might be a long time. This wasn't how I planned to spend the Christmas party. Do you think you could call Mr. Owl or something? Maybe he could carry a message."

I shook my head before he could even finish what he was asking. "No, I let him fly free because he doesn't really like crowds. He's either holed up in a tree sleeping miles away or chasing some field mice, maybe rabbits. He won't hear me. I told him that I would see him tomorrow morning. He won't look for me until then."

Xephos shook his head slowly. There was a slight measure of wonder in his voice. "You talk about him like… well, like he's a person."

I blinked, a bit flummoxed. I know that a lot of us in the Yogscast had our 'things' but it was always so hard to realize that no one else really understood them. I had my owls, Zoeya had her mushrooms, Martyn had his trees and Nilesy his buckets. Ahem, sorry 'portable pools'. All of us had something. All of us, that is except Xephos. I had known him for awhile, but still hadn't discovered the thing that Xephos had a penchant for. I suppose it added to his mystery.

"Well, he is a person, to me at least. We understand each other. He's just like you or me, except with a few feathers thrown in."

Xephos smiled at my explanation. "That is definitely a strange mental image. So I guess we really do have to wait for awhile." He reclined in the snow, and slung an arm around my shoulders. I leant against him. It wasn't particularly cold, but I was still grateful for the warmth. "Actually, I'm pretty glad for the chance to relax. I hardly ever get to see you, if you think about it. I'm always off at the lab, or the farm, or Honeydew's company, or at the Sipsco headquarters with Turps. I hardly ever just have time… off. Free, even. I'm always keeping everything running smoothly."

I messed with the hem of his sweater, and he finally took my restless hand. "I think you should take more time off." I said. "It sounds like you've been overdoing it. You can't just keep working all the time."

He nodded as I spoke. "But what about Honeydew? If I don't keep an eye on him, no one will. The last time that happened, he destroyed Yoglabs. _Again!_" I chuckled softly, but grew quiet as he kept speaking.

He vented about the growing tensions between the magical users, and the 'Magic Police', and about how he was constantly working behind the scenes to stop the inevitable fight. I knew that I was on their 'Wanted' list, but I didn't really take that seriously. No one did. Listening to Xephos talk about it though, I almost felt concerned. Less about the threat the police themselves posed, and more about the possible fights between the strongest magic users.

Besides that, he also worried, much as I did, about Rythian and Zoeya. He had gotten word that they would be coming to the party, and it was the first that anyone would see of them for more than a year. Everyone knew about the problems between Sjin, Lalna and Rythian. Apparently, Sjin and Lalna had sworn not to bother anyone about 'Magical' business for the Christmas party, but there was always the risk that they would pick a fight with Rythian anyway. Xephos also shared a lot of his other worries, like the strange, spreading biomes that altered anything within them- and that had already infected Kim and quite possibly Lalna as well.

I had never before appreciated just how much he always had on his plate. He had really needed someone to listen, and now that he had gotten it off of his chest, he looked a lot less stressed.

"I'm sure everything will work out fine. It always does." I sighed, uncertain how to really comfort him.

Xephos frowned. "But what if it works out too late? Collectively, the Yogscast has come through a lot. But always, there's been a price. Parv was driven to Blood Magic, Zoeya lost her arm, and we nearly lost Honeydew forever…" he choked up, but I didn't have time to ask why, because suddenly, just as I'd been about to sneak a kiss from him, we heard our savior's voice.

"In the name of NOTCH, just drink the goddamn milk!"

Sounds of drunken dwarf protest.

"You have to sober up. Just _drink_ it!"

An odd gargling sound and a sigh.

"How does Xephos always deal with you? He must do something right. Well, between you and me, and also the fact that you're absolutely wasted, I'll say that he does a lot of things right."

Xephos had been listening with his ear to the icy wall. He pulled back with a perplexed expression on his face. "_Ridgedog?_" he asked ludicrously, and quite loudly.

There was a muffled thump, and more protests. Then, the Demigod himself peered into the hole. "Oh, wow. Hi. It's Xephos. And Lomadia! Hey, what are you guys doing down there? Here, I'll help you out." He spoke quickly as he flew down and grabbed one of my hands, and one of Xephos'. Then, he flew up and just like that, we were free of our icy prison.

Ridgedog was actually blushing, "Hey, man, if you heard anything, I just meant that you're really good at, like handling all of the problems and running Yoglabs and stuff."

Xephos coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, Ridge, uh, it's fine. Now what's going on? Did we miss the picture?"

Ridgedog flew up a few feet, looking anywhere but at us as he answered. "No. I seem to have misplaced the camera, so I was heading out to grab another. Also, a lot of people were uh, ill disposed towards actually walking, or doing anything but passing out. I think there might have been a little too much alcohol at this one." He paused for a moment. "Wow. I never thought I would say that. Anyway, those of us who weren't blackout drunk were looking for enough milk to sober everyone else up. I don't actually get drunk, so that's what I've been doing. We were actually looking for you guys in particular, because we found almost everyone else. There was nearly a fight between Rythian and Sjin, with a few people in the middle, but no one is badly hurt." He rushed on before either of us could ask what the fight had been about. "But yeah, Sjin was awkwardly following Minty around, Parv was walking out in the middle of an empty field singing Christmas Carols, Lalna was angrily beating up a tree because 'they're all kissing her, and I've not even kissed her!' No word on who exactly 'her' is. Others too, like Nilesy and Strippin." He shivered. "Strippin was running around with no shirt on, trying to play 'Strip-tag'. Those were all the bad ones, but nearly everyone was at least slightly intoxicated."

One name caught my attention, and I instantly felt guilty. "Nilesy, huh? What was his deal?"

Ridgedog closed his eyes, trying to remember. "Uh, he drank a lot, and then, according to Zoeya started to yell at Rythian." My heart dropped.

Ridgedog paused at the look on my face "No, no! Nilesy's fine. He passed out and then Rythian made sure he didn't freeze." I nodded, relieved. I had forgotten that Nilesy and Rythian got along pretty well.

"Alright then," Xephos broke in. "What have we got to do now?"

"Just head back to everyone else. I'll go and get Honeydew out of that hole for you. He was drinking that milk when I left him, so he might actually be sober now." Ridgedog vanished into another hole, and quickly reappeared, towing the ginger dwarf, who looked very sheepish. He put Honeydew down beside Xephos and I. The dwarf studiously ignored us, taking a very sudden interest in the snow.

Ridgedog smirked and started to levitate a few feet. "I'll leave you guys to it. I'll be getting the camera. Tell everyone that I'll be back soon." He flew away, so quickly that soon he was no more than a speck on the pale horizon.

"I left my shovel in the hole…" Honeydew murmured.

"I don't very well think that you need it!" Xephos exclaimed crossly. "Look where it's gotten us!"

Honeydew flinched at Xephos's harsh words. "I wasn't thinking. I was drunk...Too much Black Stuff?" I hid a grin behind my gloved hand. I had heard about the notorious 'Black Stuff'. It was the only thing that could really get a dwarf drunk.

"Black Stuff!" Xephos sputtered. "I thought we AGREED that no more Black Stuff would be brewed. For the love of Notch, look what happened last time we had that at a party!"

Honeydew looked up at Xephos, eyes glistening. "I'm sorry Xephos. Really I am. I don't even remember digging all of this. Only a few of them. I didn't mean for this to happen."

Xephos sighed, and his face softened. "It's alright friend. Sorry I yelled. No real harm, after all. We're fine."

Honeydew's tear-filled eyes immediately dried. "Great! Let's get back to the others then." He ran ahead, now easily sidestepping all of the holes. Xephos and I followed, a bit more slowly.

"So…" I said as he took my hand. "What happened the last time there was Black Stuff at a party? I don't believe I was there."

Xephos shuddered and closed his eyes. "It was way back at the Jaffa Factory. It involved Sjin and…" he grimaced, real pain showing on his face. "Bubbles. Sjin, bubbles, and Jaffas. So many Jaffas. I don't want to talk about it." He opened his eyes, startlingly blue, and flashed me an uneasy, brilliant white smile. "It's too painful to think about."

I raised one eyebrow, but didn't press him. He would have to tell me that story sometime.

We walked along, keeping the dwarf in our sight. Before long, we could see the rest of the group, though we were still a fair distance away. At first glance, everyone seemed to be taking part in an innocent snowball fight, but something was off. Honeydew had sensed that something was amiss, and had stopped. Xephos and I soon stood beside him. It was then that I realized what the problem was.

There were no playful yells, only terse orders, too faint for me to make out clearly from the distance. Also, the figures we could see hardly seemed as though they would be on the same team. Rythian knelt beside a seemingly unconscious Sjin, while Ross and Nilesy were lying on the ground deep in conversation behind a massive snow drift. Kaeyi and Minty were a short distance away, literally herding cats, all of which seemed to be doing their best to get away.

Then, a volley of snowballs sailed from the far end of the field to beset upon all of my friends. I tried to see the aggressor, but all I could see was white on white, nothing standing out on the snow. In response to the attack, one of the members of Area 11, possibly Sparkles, shouted a command. Immediately, several of my friends charged towards the unseen threat, while others threw sharp looking tools and snowballs filled with rocks. Minty and Kaeyi gave up on trying keeping the cats huddled together, and the felines rushed as one towards whatever threatened the group.

"What the hell?" Honeydew whispered. Xephos shook his head slowly, his brow furrowed in confusion. To me, it seemed as though our friends had been pulled into some sort of high stakes snowball fight. We heard a coarse yell and turned towards it together. The neck of a bass guitar protruded from a snow drift at the edge of the battle, with a roughly human-sized impression that quickly began to fill with the fine powder that fell in ever increasing droves around us.

Xephos' handsome face set into an expression I knew only too well. "No…" I grabbed onto his arm, trying vainly to restrain him from whatever invariably stupid idea he had come up with. "It's dangerous. Whatever you're planning, no."

He shook me off and drew the battered dagger from his coat pocket. "Our friends are out there, Lomadia, and they need our help. Whatever they're fighting, it's winning." He gestured out over the 'battlefield', and indeed, many of our friends hid behind low walls, cowering from the unending snowballs. Others seemed to be chilling on the ground, out cold. They really were in trouble. I nodded my assent.

"We have to stick together, and maybe try to get some of them further from the fighting if they're hurt. Above all, we need to find out what this is all about. What are we fighting?"

My voice sounded more brisk than I intended it, but I had gone into full warrior mode. Among the fallen, I had just seen the long black hair that was synonymous with countless cat stories told in Scottish accent and endless talk of portable pools. I had to get Nilesy to safety. I tilted my chin towards the closest person in need of help, the unfortunate soul with the bass guitar. Together we ran, though Honeydew didn't follow, instead charging headfirst into the battle with a cry of 'For the Dwarven Brew!'

The snow flew thick and fast over us, but we avoided any major issue on our way to the guitar. When we got there, the impression had been completely filled in. It was really coming down like the Dickens! Xephos began to dig where only the very tip of the guitar revealed that anything at all might be buried beneath. The snow let up briefly, and I realized that the blizzard itself wasn't that bad; most of it had been countless snowballs, thrown from the enemy forces. It was a bizarre battle indeed, but intense none the less. A simple stone within a snowball could deal quite a blow.

Xephos uncovered a still, pale figure, which had the faintest blue tinge to his skin. His fingers were clasped quite firmly around his guitar, determined not to let it go. His eyes were closed and he shook violently.

Xephos's eyes scanned me desperately. "Don't you have any potions, or a spell, or something? He'll freeze to death." In a panic, I searched my pockets, and pulled out a basic healing potion that I always kept on hand for emergencies. If this didn't count as one I don't know what did. My trembling fingers unstopped the bottle and poured it carefully between his chattering teeth.

Immediately, the red returned to the complexion of our patient. His frosty lips parted in a weak smile as he sat up in the snow and hefted his bass guitar, which I could see had been retrofitted with various blades and spikes in random places. Another figure raced over to us, skimming lightly above the snow.

"You found Kogie!" cried Parv, overjoyed. "Now me and my friendsie can go and fight the snow monsters together!"

Kogie got to his feet quickly, no ill effects from his brush with death apparent. Parv ran circles around the lot of us, loping about and occasionally taking a few long strides on all fours. He never seemed to sink further than a few inches into the snow, and he gabbled nonsense to himself. The spectacle was actually quite terrifying, especially combined with the red bloodstains and scars running up his lower arms. As soon as Kogie had adjusted his grip on the guitar he set off heavily back towards the main of the battle, Parv skipping lightly in his wake, singing raucously.

Was Parv even _human_?

I shook the disturbing thoughts from my mind and looked back towards the friendly side of the field. Many of those who had fallen had recovered, with the notable exception of Sjin, who was still accompanied by Rythian. Xephos's head whipped back and forth as he took in the scene around, but I could tell that he yearned to leap into the fray. His entire body was tense, loaded on a spring. The owl knife still glimmered dully in his hand, mostly obscured by his glove. I placed a hand gently on his forearm, and leant in close to his ear, my lips brushing the cold side of his cheek.

"Go fight, but be safe. I'm going to see what I can do over here." I withdrew, pecking his cheek softly on my way. His hard, blue, electrifying eyes caught me in their inescapable trap, and he nodded once. Silently, he was gone, off towards the fight.

I watched him go for a couple of seconds, and then turned the opposite way, heading out towards Rythian. I hardly made it three meters before I was attacked, first by a tide of icy snowballs, then by a beast that leapt out of the snow bank that it had been hiding in.

I might have first thought that it was a simple snowman, had my brain been working that quickly. It looked enough like one, except that the normal cheery smile that normally graced its pumpkin face had been replaced with a malicious grimace, and something had twisted the rest of it to be icily terrifying. Its branch arms were gnarled and sharp; the snow of its body looking as though it had partially thawed and refrozen, lending strange asymmetrical knobs to its physique, and its eyes glowed with a dark light.

Its sharp arms rent long scratches on the regrettably softer surface of mine, as I had guarded my face with my forearms instinctively. I kicked at the middle of my attacker, pushing it back at a great discomfort to me, as its body was quite solid and heavy and seemed to be as much ice as it was snow.

We faced each other for a moment, until it charged me again. This time, I was on guard, and was able to dodge to the side rather easily. That seemed to be its weakness. Its more armored body made it stronger, but slower, so if I stayed alert, it wouldn't be able to score. I felt a bit like a matador as it ran past me at full speed again. It seemed to determine that charging did nothing, and instead began to chuck snowballs with zeal. These were more difficult to dodge, and I took several hard hits to my shoulder, and one to my stomach that nearly took the wind from my lungs. I cursed my lack of any sort of weapon. Still, I managed to get past the projectiles, leapt onto its back, and found myself in a rather odd situation.

I had it in a chokehold, though it didn't do much, as it didn't really need to breathe. Still, it bucked wildly as I clung onto its back for dear life. One of its wild attempts to throw me nearly succeeded and my arm was flung back painfully. I brought it back to grasp one of the branches that were its arms, and was struck with an idea. I pulled on the branch with all of my weight, and a high keening sound filled the air. It took all of my self control to not let go of the branch and clasp my ears. The branch was also bitingly sharp, and I could feel as the material of my gloves and then the skin on my palm broke and began to trickle ruby red drops onto the pristine white snow. Suddenly, the demented snowman's arm broke off and I held it victoriously aloft, forgetting for a moment that I was trying not to fall off of a very irate snowman's back.

And so I fell off. I lay stunned in the snow for a moment, wondering vaguely what exactly I was intending to do with the sharp stick that I held. The crazed snow monster bore down on me, waving its remaining arm angrily and emitting the first sound I had actually heard it make; a disorganized scraping sound, rough and dry like a desert wind. I sat up, the stick my only defense. It still cut my palms, but I ignored it for the moment as adrenaline and alcohol coursed through my veins. The pain seemed to wash away as I focused on the snowman. It slid at me rapidly, but I was ready. Like one of the baseball greats, I swung the branch as a club, solidly thwacking the snowman a good one in the pumpkin. The razor-like edge had an unforeseen affect, in that it sliced cleanly through the squash.

Just like that, the battle was over. The snowman dissolved into a pile of powdery snow, which blew away in the wind. The empty pumpkin fell to the ground in front of me, breaking even further. A tiny bit of vapor wisped through the gaping hole in the squash, and turned to a soft, grainy substance. Was it sand? No, my eyes played tricks on me. It was only more snow. Surely sand couldn't be in the midst of so much snow.

I dropped the branch, feeling slightly shell-shocked. I stumbled the way I had been heading, towards Rythian. It was rather quiet around me, the majority of the fighting back on the other side of the field. Without encountering any further problems, I made it to the Endermage. He looked drawn and tired as he knelt over Sjin, who lay prostrate on the ground, unmoving.

Rythian looked up as I approached, and his violet eyes regarded me warily. "I didn't do this to him. Something different attacked him before the snowmen attacked the rest of us. Whatever it was, it vanished, caught him with a blast of some sort of powder. He collapsed, and started to mumble and shake." Rythian looked down at the farmer, almost as though he didn't hate him. "So I've been trying to drive out whatever's possessed him. I think it might have something to do with how the snowmen are being controlled."

I knelt beside the Endermage, and looked down at Sjin as well. He shook and mumbled as though he suffered from a bad fever. "So, what is possessing them, do you know?" I asked.

Rythian scoffed. "It's probably Ridgedog playing tricks on us. From what everyone else says, he's rather fond of practical jokes." I realized that Rythian really didn't know much about the current state of affairs, or how everyone had been lately, simply because he had been gone for so long.

Rythian looked up quickly, past me, his purple eyes flashing uncertainly. "Zoeya? Zoeya? Where did you go?" He looked at me. "She was just over there a second ago, keeping an eye on the battle for me to see if anyone needed help, but she wasn't supposed to get involved…" he fretted.

I felt bad for him, so anxious because he lost sight of his love. I had never really gotten involved in the problems between Lalna, Sjin and Rythian all that time ago, but it was clear that they had permanently scarred the Endermage.

A loud hacking sound tore itself from Sjin's throat, and another puff of the fine powdery snow (or was it sand? I still had no idea,) took flight from the bearded man's mouth. It quickly dissolved in the frosty air, and Sjin's eyes shot open. He sat up quickly, and swayed slightly back and forth, the blood rushing to his head. His robin's-egg blue eyes were distant and unfocused, and he mumbled words that _sounded_ dangerous, his voice eventually growing strong enough for me to understand. "It's _Him_!" Sjin yelled, his gaze suddenly becoming focused. He blinked in puzzlement and the air around seemed to drop ten degrees. Gooseflesh prickled on my well bundled arms and a cold sweat chilled the back of my neck.

Rythian's intense voice broke through the thick atmosphere. "Lomadia, I have a bad feeling about this" I was probably imagining things, but I could've sworn that I heard a slight tremble in his tone. "Could you please keep an eye on Sjin? I need to go look for Zoeya."

Sjin tried to stand. "I don't need anyone to look after me!" He exclaimed indignantly. "I'm fine! What's going on? Where is everyone?" He slid back to the ground; the icy snow and wooziness from lying on the ground were not very conductive to standing steadily. He sighed with exasperation.

I knelt down next to him, nodded to Rythian, and tried my best to answer Sjin's questions. Having arrived only a few minutes before, I was nearly as clueless as Sjin. As soon as he heard about the snowmen though, he was raring for a fight. He struggled to his feet, less dizzy than before. Fire blazed in bright halos around his hands.

"I'll ice those mothertruckers!" was his war cry as he plowed through the now waist-deep snow. The sight was somewhat comical, but I held my laughter as he raced away at about a half kilometer per hour. His trek was made somewhat easier by the heat from his hands melting some of the snow in his general vicinity. He was about ten meters away when I heard a low chuckle behind me.

Rythian had appeared where Sjin had lain a few minutes before. I noticed that a good deal of snow had melted. "I just thought that I would let you know that whatever was happening is over. All of the snowmen just dissolved. Suspiciously, at around the same time Ridgedog showed up with the camera… oh, wow. Look at your hands."

He furrowed his brows and turned one of my palms facing up. I had forgotten how the snowman's arms had been so razor sharp as they tore at my arms and sliced open one of my palms. Now, it was at the forefront of my mind, a chilly, numb ache. Rythian mumbled a few words and a pastel mist collected around my forearms. Immediately, the wounds sealed together with a peculiar itching sensation. He continued speaking without a hitch, as though he had done such a thing many times. Living with someone as endearingly clumsy as Zoeya, I wasn't surprised. "Anyways, we're lining up for the picture now. I'm trying to gather everyone together. However…" he shot a significant glance at Sjin, who still charged blindly ahead in the melting

snow. "Eh, maybe I'll let him run for awhile…"

Zoeya seemed to appear suddenly, making even Rythian jump. "That's not very nice Rythian! It's _Christmas_!"

Rythian's eyes were wide as he turned to look at her. "How did you get over here?" he asked incredulously.

Zoeya held up a small yellow staff. "Well, Lalna was getting annoyed and he asked what was taking so long. Then he gave me this and told me to go and get you. I can teleport with it!" She zipped around a few times, giggling happily

The Endermage sighed heavily. "Zoeya, why are you running errands for the scientist? If you wanted to teleport, I'm sure I could… find some way."

I could hear the bitterness in his voice. I had no idea why he hated his Powers so much, but it really wasn't my business to pry. I stared down at the snow by my feet, not sure if I should head back to the others or stay with these two.

Zoeya, as usual, had a happy little response for him. "I know you _could, _but you don't want to, which is fine. I just wanted to get over to you quickly, because I lo-"

Rythian's mask bunched up slightly in a smile. "I love you too. Here, you don't need this-" he took both of her hands in his, the staff falling to the ground. "Let's just go."

"Where are we going?"

"Well, it is Christmas. It just wouldn't be in the spirit of the holidays to let Sjin run through the snow forever, now would it?"

Zoeya laughed, and they vanished in a gleam of purple-tinged magic. I made my way back to the group, a small smile playing about my lips. When I got about halfway there, Xephos rushed straight up to me.

"Lomadia! I was so worried." He hugged me tightly, and for a moment, I allowed myself to be caught up in the warmth of the embrace, pecking his cheek. Slowly, I pulled away and held his hand.

"So what happened? I didn't see much of the fight."

He shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. I got there and destroyed a few snowmen. Once we found out that the pumpkin was their weak spot, it was a lot easier. But as soon as we started to get the upper hand, they all just disintegrated. I guess that's good, but still, it's very weird. Everyone's saying that Ridgedog did it, but those things were really dangerous. He's an arrogant god and everything, but I don't think he would do something that could actually hurt us. Annoyance and humiliation are more his speed. Also, well, Minty said that she saw something weird, something we haven't seen in years…" His gaze went distant.

I shook him out of it, surprising him with another peck, this one on the lips. His eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and then fluttered shut happily. I could feel him smile slightly.

"Hey, Lovebirds!" came Honeydew's raucous call. "Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to come take a picture?" There were a few jeering remarks and chuckles, all playful and all in good humor. I dropped Xephos hand and smiled.

"Well…" The spaceman called back easily, "I wouldn't _mind _standing over here all day."

A few laughs and calls of 'Just get your asses over here!' greeted his response. He grinned, and together we walked to our spot in the line, as the first few chords of the new song that Area 11 had written began to reverberate off of the snow.

I looked around at all of my friends, the battle just a faint memory in my mind. It may have been life or death, but that didn't matter, because despite how we usually felt about each other, we could work together if it was needed. Sips and Sjin spoke softly together, waiting for Ridgedog to get the camera ready. Zoeya and Teep had put down a lever, and Rythian and Lalna watched with interest, for once not fighting. Martyn seemed to be clubbing Toby with a large chunk of lapis lazuli whilst Kaeyi shook her head and giggled nearby, nothing too unusual about that. It was all in play of course.

Ridgedog flew up in front of us, and I grabbed Xephos's hand. "Merry Christmas, Xephos."

"Merry Christmas, Lomadia…"

There was a bright flash of light, the shutter closed on the camera. I blinked to clear the spots from my eyes. I looked up, and a sprig of mistletoe hovered just above eyelevel. I turned to Xephos, instead meeting eyes with…_Toby?!_

He flushed bright red and his eyes opened wide, jaw dropping open in shock. I could hear the disorganized confusion as everyone else realized that they didn't stand next to who they had before. At least, most of us had inexplicitly switched places. But there's always an exception.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Rythian. "I am NOT kissing Lalna!"

"Merry Christmas everyone! Oh, by the way, you're trapped in place until you kiss the person you're stuck with. Have fun!" Ridgedog couldn't suppress the glee in his voice. I idly wondered how long he had planned this one.

Ridgedog flew up, high above us, and vanished, his mad cackling echoing even after he was gone.

Well… _This _had certainly been an… _interesting_ Christmas.


End file.
